Chapter 6
Ghost in the System
Jon didn't know how long he'd been sitting there.
The city had changed around him.
Day had become evening.
Evening had become night.
Yet Meridian never seemed to sleep.
If anything, it became more alive.
The streets brightened.
Buildings changed colors.
Advertisements stretched across entire walls, competing for attention with holographic performers, live broadcasts, music and streams of information that moved too quickly for him to understand.
He watched people come and go.
Some disappeared into underground transit stations.
Others climbed into sleek vehicles waiting at the curb.
A group of young people crossed the street, laughing among themselves, two of them wearing translucent lenses that projected tiny icons into the air around their heads.
Nobody seemed impressed by any of it.
That was what fascinated him.
To them, this was normal.
A mechanical arm passing a package to someone on the street?
Normal.
A woman speaking to an invisible person while walking?
Normal.
A child carrying a tiny floating companion robot?
Normal.
A man with half his face replaced by synthetic plating?
Nobody even looked twice.
Jon leaned back against the bench.
"Everyone here is impractical."
A passerby glanced at him.
Jon smiled.
"Respectfully."
The person continued walking.
.....
He spent the next day learning how to exist.
That was harder than it sounded.
The city had systems for everything.
Transportation.
Food.
Communication.
Identification.
Employment.
Healthcare.
Education.
Even public parks had automated management systems.
He discovered that the sidewalks changed depending on traffic density.
That public buildings displayed information directly onto transparent surfaces.
That many stores didn't have cashiers.
That advertisements could follow him if he looked at them for too long.
He learned that some people still preferred ordinary clothing, while others wore garments equipped with temperature regulation, augmented displays and miniature communication devices.
He saw street musicians performing beside artificial performers.
He watched an old man argue with a vending machine.
He saw a woman slap the shoulder of an obedient household robot because it had ruined her lunch.
The robot apologized.
The woman apologized afterward.
Jon almost laughed.
For all its technology, people were still people.
That was the comforting part.
They still got angry.
They still got embarrassed.
They still joked.
They still fell in love.
They still complained about work.
They still ran when they were late.
Maybe the world wasn't as alien as it looked.
Maybe it was simply humanity with a few hundred years of extra engineering.
....
By midday, Jon was exhausted.
He found a public park tucked between two enormous buildings.
It was unlike anything he expected.
Trees grew between polished walkways.
Small streams of water flowed through artificial channels.
Children played beneath holographic animals projected above the grass.
A digital sky changed colors according to the time.
Jon stared at it for a while.
"Even the sky is fake."
A child nearby heard him.
"It's not fake!"
Jon looked over.
The boy pointed upward.
"It's environmental projection."
Jon stared.
"That is exactly what fake means."
The boy frowned.
His mother laughed.
Jon smiled.
"Sorry."
The child ran away.
Jon watched him disappear.
Then he found a quiet bench beneath a tree.
He sat.
Closed his eyes.
And for the first time since awakening...
he slept.
....
No alarms.
No restraints.
No footsteps.
No voices.
Just sleep.
His body finally gave in.
He slept through the afternoon.
When he woke, the sun had already begun to descend.
For several seconds, he didn't know where he was.
Then he remembered.
Meridian.
Hope.
The mansion.
The interrogation.
The escape.
His chest.
His hand slowly moved toward it.
Nothing.
No warmth.
No pulse beyond the ordinary beat of his heart.
He let out a breath.
"Good."
He stood.
His legs were stiff.
His clothes were wrinkled.
His hair was a mess.
He probably looked terrible.
But he felt better.
More human.
He looked across the park.
People were still moving.
A couple sat beside the fountain.
A group of students were arguing over something on a holographic display.
A worker slept inside a transport vehicle during a scheduled break.
A street vendor packed away food.
Normal life.
Jon smiled.
Maybe he could do this.
Maybe he could find a place.
Maybe he could figure himself out.
One step at a time.
......….
He returned to Moreen's café later that evening.
The place was quieter than before.
Moreen noticed him almost immediately.
"Well, look who survived."
Jon pulled out the chair.
"I told you I'd come back."
"You did."
She placed a cup in front of him.
He looked at it.
"Free?"
"Don't push it."
He smiled.
"Fair."
Moreen leaned against the counter.
"So."
"So?"
"You learn anything?"
"Yeah."
She raised an eyebrow.
"I've been here for less than a day and I've learned that everyone has metal inside them, robots have better social skills than most people, and apparently 2087 is real."
Moreen stared at him.
"How confused are you?"
"Very."
She laughed.
Jon drank his coffee.
For a while, they simply talked.
Nothing important.
Food.
The city.
The weirdest districts.
Which trains were terrible.
Which neighborhoods were too expensive.
Which street vendors had the best meals.
Moreen told him Meridian never really slept.
Jon told her he'd noticed.
She smiled.
"You're starting to look less lost."
"That's progress."
"It is."
He looked at her.
"Do you know anywhere someone like me could stay?"
Moreen hesitated.
"Someone without identification?"
"Yeah."
She thought about it.
"Not legally."
"That's encouraging."
"But…"
She glanced toward the window.
"There are places."
Jon raised an eyebrow.
"Illegal places?"
"Unofficial."
"That's a nicer word for illegal."
Moreen smiled.
"Depends who you ask."
Jon laughed.
Jon looked around the café.
"You know, this place is probably the closest thing I've found to normal."
Moreen smiled.
"Glad to hear it."
He looked at her.
"Although…"
"Although?"
He leaned slightly closer across the counter.
"I think there's one thing making it difficult to call this place normal."
Moreen tilted her head.
"What?"
"You."
She blinked.
"Me?"
"Yeah."
"What's wrong with me?"
Jon smiled.
"Nothing."
A small pause.
"That's the problem."
Moreen stared at him for a second before laughing.
"Oh, you're dangerous."
"I've been told that."
"By who?"
Jon's smile faded slightly.
"…I don't remember."
The moment softened.
Moreen looked at him with a little more sympathy.
Then she reached beneath the counter and pulled out a small piece of paper.
She grabbed a pen and wrote something down.
She folded the paper once and slid it toward him.
Jon picked it up.
"What's this?"
"You asked me yesterday about my contact."
He looked at the paper.
A number was written on it in neat handwriting.
"And you're actually giving it to me?"
Moreen shrugged.
"Don't make me regret it."
Jon smiled.
"I thought you said I'd have to earn it."
"You did."
"What did I do?"
"You came back."
He laughed softly.
"That's a pretty low bar."
"I'm generous."
He tucked the paper carefully into his pocket.
"Then I'll try not to disappoint you."
Moreen smiled.
"That's a bold promise for someone who doesn't even know where he came from."
Jon stood.
"Maybe I'll figure that out eventually."
He started toward the door.
Then stopped.
He looked back.
"I'll swing by later."
Moreen raised an eyebrow.
"For the coffee?"
Jon smiled.
"Maybe."
"And the contact?"
He tapped his pocket.
"Definitely."
She tried to hide her smile.
"Don't take too long."
Jon opened the door.
"I'll try."
He stepped into the city.
Moreen watched him disappear into the crowd.
Only after he was gone did she look down at the counter and realize she had been smiling the whole time.
"Idiot," she muttered to herself.
A tiny smile returned.
"Cute idiot, though."
For a moment, everything felt ordinary again.
Neither of them noticed the man sitting several tables away.
He had been watching Jon for several minutes.
When Jon finally left, the man lifted a small device.
A camera focused.
A scan completed.
The man frowned.
Then he spoke quietly.
"Suspicious individual."
........
Jon kept walking.
He didn't notice the camera.
Didn't notice the scan.
Didn't notice the man following at a distance.
He spent another hour wandering through the central district.
The city looked different at night.
More beautiful.
More dangerous.
He stopped beneath a massive public display.
A live broadcast played above him.
One of the Ten Fingers was delivering a speech.
Jon watched for a moment.
The crowd around the screen barely reacted.
Some paid attention.
Others walked past.
A few people stopped to listen.
The world kept moving.
Jon turned away.
Then his wrist—
He looked down.
He wasn't wearing anything.
Yet something inside his chest gave a tiny pulse.
He stopped.
A faint warmth.
Then nothing.
Jon frowned.
"Not again."
He touched his chest.
The sensation disappeared.
He continued walking.
.....
Several districts away, a municipal security system processed the earlier report.
The image appeared.
A face.
Jon.
The system attempted to match it.
No result.
It tried again.
NO CURRENT IDENTITY.
The operator clicked through additional databases.
Civilian records.
Healthcare records.
Travel records.
Immigration records.
Educational records.
Nothing.
The operator frowned.
"Nothing?"
Another employee looked over.
"Try the secondary archive."
The first operator did.
The system searched.
Nothing.
Then—
LEGACY RECORD DETECTED.
Both employees looked at the screen.
"What?"
A data stream appeared.
Incomplete.
Fragmented.
Most of the record was inaccessible.
The system tried to retrieve it.
ACCESS RESTRICTED.
The employee attempted another route.
RECORD STATUS: ARCHIVED.
Then:
IDENTITY: UNRESOLVED.
Then:
BIOLOGICAL PROFILE: MATCH PENDING.
The operator frowned.
"Who is this guy?"
The system generated another notification.
SUBJECT HAS NO CURRENT EXISTENCE.
The room became quiet.
The second employee leaned toward the screen.
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know."
"Can we pull the archive?"
"It's locked."
"By who?"
The system returned no answer.
A third employee walked over.
"What happened?"
The first pointed toward the monitor.
"This person doesn't exist."
The third stared.
Then laughed.
"That makes three of us."
Nobody laughed with him.
......
The system attempted to cross-reference the biological data.
A percentage appeared.
93.2%
The number dropped.
81.6%
Then rose again.
97.4%
The screen flickered.
A corrupted identifier appeared for less than a second.
X—
Then vanished.
The operator stared.
"What was that?"
"I didn't see anything."
"Run it again."
The system searched.
Nothing.
The operator leaned back.
"Send it for manual review."
"That's going to take hours."
"I know."
"So?"
"So, send it."
The request entered the queue.
PENDING.
.....
Jon was halfway across a crowded street when he noticed something strange.
A police vehicle turned at the intersection behind him.
Then another.
He kept walking.
The vehicles continued.
He looked over his shoulder.
Nothing.
Probably coincidence.
He turned forward.
A public scanner on the sidewalk flashed.
BEEP.
Jon looked at it.
The display changed.
IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED.
He kept walking.
A second scanner activated.
BEEP.
Then another.
BEEP.
His pace slowed.
"Okay…"
He looked around.
People were beginning to notice.
A security drone descended from above.
Red light.
Yellow light.
Then—
RED.
"Sir."
Jon stopped.
A synthetic voice spoke from the drone.
"Please remain where you are."
Jon stared upward.
"Why?"
"Identity verification required."
"I don't have one."
"Remain where you are."
Two uniformed security officers approached from across the street.
Jon's instincts immediately screamed.
Run.
He took one step backward.
The drone's light turned brighter.
"Sir."
Another officer approached from behind.
"You need to come with us."
Jon looked between them.
"What did I do?"
"Please cooperate."
"I didn't do anything."
The officers exchanged a glance.
One touched his earpiece.
"Central, we have the individual."
A response came through.
The voice sounded different now.
More serious.
"Confirm visual."
"Confirmed."
"Do not lose him."
Jon's stomach dropped.
He stepped backward again.
One officer moved forward.
"Sir."
Jon looked at the crowd.
Nobody knew him.
Nobody was coming to help.
The city suddenly felt enormous.
Cold.
Unfamiliar.
He looked toward the side street.
Then back at the officers.
His pulse quickened.
Bdum.
The officer reached for his arm.
Jon moved.
He ducked beneath the man's grasp.
The crowd erupted.
Someone shouted.
The drone descended.
"STOP!"
Jon ran.
...….
He pushed through the crowd.
People shouted as he passed.
A vehicle braked hard.
A security drone swept overhead.
"UNIDENTIFIED MALE."
Jon didn't look back.
He ran faster.
His lungs burned.
His heart thundered.
Bdum. Bdum. Bdum.
He turned into an alley.
Then another.
A wall appeared ahead.
He jumped.
His hands caught the edge.
He pulled himself over.
He landed hard.
He didn't stop.
Behind him, the city continued screaming.
Sirens.
Drones.
Footsteps.
The first pursuit was already underway.
And somewhere deep inside a system far above the one currently chasing him, another notification appeared.
Not municipal.
Not civilian.
Not public.
A low-priority anomaly detection system processed the corrupted biological signature.
The screen remained blank for several seconds.
Then a single entry appeared.
ANOMALY DETECTED.
Below it:
ORIGIN: UNKNOWN.
Another line loaded.
ARCHIVED SUBJECT DATA: PARTIAL MATCH.
The system paused.
Then:
FORWARD TO INTERNAL REVIEW.
The request disappeared into a network so large that nobody noticed it immediately.
But somewhere within the lower levels of the Ten Fingers' systems...
something had just begun looking for him.
Jon knew none of this.
All he knew was that people were chasing him again.
He reached the end of the alley.
A road opened ahead.
Lights.
Vehicles.
Crowds.
Too many places to run.
He looked behind him.
The sound of approaching footsteps grew louder.
He clenched his fists.
"…Not again."
And ran.